


small things

by mouthbites



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Roommates, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-08-08 16:54:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7765783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mouthbites/pseuds/mouthbites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes the act of communication is more important than what is being said.</p>
            </blockquote>





	small things

**Author's Note:**

> loosely canon, set between nct u and nct 127

Sicheng’s already in bed when Jaehyun comes into their room, dark aside from the faint, blue-tinged light from Sicheng’s cellphone screen. He leans up and looks over his shoulder when Jaehyun closes the door, but doesn’t say anything. Jaehyun doesn't turn on the lights, instead fumbling his way to the reading lamp on the wall underneath the top bunk.

It's before midnight, and they don't have to get up in the morning. Nights like these are going to be rare soon, and Jaehyun knows to appreciate them while he can. He gives his damp hair a last rub with his towel and hangs it over one of the wardrobe doors standing ajar. Pulls off his sweats and throws them over the chair by the end of the bed, then lies down in his bunk with a sigh.

The dorm is quiet, everyone settling down. All Jaehyun can hear is some muted voices from the living room, the steps of someone passing outside their door. Faintly, the buzzing of cars reaches them from the streets below through the half open window.

Jaehyun picks up the book on the little shelf beside his bed but doesn’t manage more than two minutes before putting it away again. He takes a sip from his water bottle and then lies back with his hands under his neck and watches the underside of Sicheng’s bed, letting his thoughts arrange themselves and come to rest.

“Jaehyun?”

Jaehyun startles a little when he finds half of Sicheng’s face sticking out over the edge of the top bunk, looking down at him.

“Yeah?”

“Are you asleep?”

Jaehyun grins at the question. “No,” he says. Evidently. But it’s not really an inquiry of whether or not he’s conscious. It’s asking something else. “Come down.”

Jaehyun barely catches the flash of a smile on Sicheng’s face before it disappears. There is some movement above, the bed bars creaking, then Sicheng’s feet appear at the end of his bed. He takes a couple of steps down the ladder before lithely jumping the last bit to the floor. 

Jaehyun shifts closer to the wall, moving his pillow with him. Sicheng reaches up and grabs his own pillow, putting it next to Jaehyun’s. The nights are already warm, even with the window open, and Sicheng’s only wearing a tank top and shorts. His naked arm brushes against Jaehyun’s when he slides down between the sheets.

They lie side by side on their backs, just like many nights before, talking in low voices about anything and everything, big things and small.

“I like,” Sicheng tells him, “tasty things, sweet things.”

“Me too.” Jaehyun grins. He slips his hand under his t-shirt to scratch at his stomach. “What are your favorite desserts?”

Sicheng turns his head to look at him. “Desserts?”

“Sweet things,” Jaehyun explains. “Like cake, ice cream, candy,” he says in English before going back to Korean. “Stuff like that.”

Sicheng is quiet for a while, thinking carefully, before he starts listing.

Sicheng’s like a different person these days, especially in these small, private moments. There isn’t much left of the shy, quiet guy who seemed to be somewhere else half of the time. Here, he talks freely, not letting the hurdles of language stop him, putting in English words here and there and slipping into Mandarin when necessary - looking at Jaehyun as if to check that he understands, which Jaehyun most often does not, but context and body language goes a long way, and if there are gaps he can’t fill with his tiny vocabulary he just tries to nod and look attentive. Conversations like these, murmured in bed at half past midnight, are often of the kind that doesn’t need to be understood in detail.

Sicheng shifts and rolls over to his stomach, propping himself on his elbows, hands moving as if to assist his words. Jaehyun shifts too, twists half to his side and moves a little closer to the wall, watching Sicheng try to describe some kind of chinese sweets his mom used to make when he was a kid. Jaehyun realizes he’s smiling - can’t help it.

He likes it, likes listening to Sicheng talk. His accent and deep voice and the little pauses he makes, often in the middle of a sentence, to pinch his lips together; swallow, or take a breath, or think about a word, eyes wandering. 

Jaehyun knows what it’s like to come to a new place and have to learn a new language, that you’ve only grazed in textbooks or on TV. He knows trying to fit your tongue around new sounds and stumble over syllables, constantly translating words in your head. The embarrassment of getting things wrong or not knowing how to express yourself, even if nobody laughs at it. 

He likes that Sicheng doesn’t seem to try so hard with him. Sicheng seems - at least here, in Jaehyun’s bed in the middle of the night - to be okay with the words coming out jumbled, or mispronounced, or having to switch language from one word to the next. Jaehyun doesn’t correct him. He likes the thought that there are people with whom Sicheng can feel comfortable like this, and he likes being one of those people.

“What are your favorites?” Sicheng asks, resting his chin on his crossed arms. “ _Desserts._ ” He says it slowly, deliberately, as if tasting the word.

Usually Sicheng climbs up again when they start dozing off, but more than a couple of times now has Jaehyun woken up in the morning with Sicheng’s warm body next to him.

Tonight, when Jaehyun stifles his third yawn Sicheng slides his legs over the edge of the bed and sits up, but before he can stand Jaehyun grabs his arm. Sicheng looks at him, lips pursed slightly, like when he is unsure.

“Stay,” Jaehyun tells him, too sleepy to care if he sounds whiny. He leans up and hooks his arm around Sicheng’s waist. Sicheng laughs quietly and lets Jaehyun pull him back down, fitting their bodies together, his back barely touching Jaehyun’s chest. He pulls the sheets back over his legs while Jaehyun reaches up to turn off the lamp, before his hand comes back to rest over Sicheng’s waist. Their feet brush together under the covers.

Within five minutes they’re both asleep.


End file.
